Join in on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge. This week’s theme is: pastel colors. Here’s my entry…
I took this photo while out sailing with friends off Puerto Vallarta a couple of years ago. It has some beautiful pastel colors. I was taking the TEFL course and this was one of the perks. I still haven’t gone to teach English, but I have done some teaching of maritime subjects and getting more comfortable in front of a classroom. 🙂
Today’s prompt for Just Jot It January is: silence. Something I don’t get too much of normally.
When I’m out at sea, there is always the rumble of the engines in the background (we hope). Then there is the noise of people wandering the passageways, flushing toilets, watching football, etc. The sound of the winches starting up, or the containers slamming the deck, or the anchors letting loose, or the thrusters ramping up. It’s very rarely silent out here.
Even on a sailboat (which I much prefer- except that they don’t pay), there is very rarely actual silence. Yes, it is much quieter, but there is still the sound of the wind in the sails, the shushing of the waves against the hull, the tinging of the halyards on the masts, occasional calls on the VHF radio.
I’m not sure I could deal with real silence for very long. I think it would drive me batty!
I just got home from my Tuesday night political meeting. Since I’ve been gone, they’ve moved it back to Fuddruckers. 🙂
I’m still doing the Just Jot It January challenge (the prompt today is: coffee), but I’ve decided to go off on another tangent and stir the pot again today…
I haven’t been going to those meetings for a while. Not only because I’ve been in and out on a couple of jobs recently, but also because I just get so frustrated, angry and depressed over the state of things.
We talk about all kinds of things at those meetings. Everything from healthy, fresh (non-GMO) foods, organic gardening and raw milk to chemtrails, fluoridation, cryptocurrencies, UN agenda 21, property rights, human rights, civil liberties, abuse of power, corporatism, corrupt politicians, the banksters running everything, and all kinds of other things.
Tonight, I met the guy who called me last night. He told us all the story he told me over the phone last night.
Personally, I was angered and disgusted with the extent that people completely refuse to just mind their own business. Of course, many people think that everything is their business. That’s a big problem everywhere. Maybe especially in small towns like this one.
This is his story: His family lives on a sailboat. They leased a mooring from a man and they’ve been living aboard their sailboat down there near the beach. The man (I’ll call him Dave), his wife (I’ll call her Maria) and their kids.
They’re a nice, quiet couple. Normal kids (I haven’t met the kids yet). Not making trouble or bothering anybody. Minding their own business.
Christmas Eve, the cops showed up and gave them 2 hours to get out! OK, it’s damn near impossible to do that on short notice. If you have a boat, you know what I’m talking about.They didn’t want to anyway (and I don’t blame them). They asked why? What was the problem?
Long story short, the cops have been harassing them every day since. Dave finally told the cops to give him a ticket or leave him alone. So, they made up some line of BS, told Dave that living aboard his boat violated some ordinance (turns out there is no such ordinance) and when Dave investigated and challenged the cops on it was told (oops!) he didn’t really violate that ordinance, it was a different one!
So. Here’s a nice normal family, being harassed and run out of town because they made the choice to live aboard a boat instead of a ‘normal’ house. I ask why is that anybody else’s business?
I’ve been involved in arguments about ‘boat trash’ for years. I own a house very close to where this is happening today. I bought it specifically to dock my boat there. I fought the homeowners association about their ridiculous opinions about boat owners (“boat trash”) back then. I still think they’re full of uninformed prejudice and they really need to just shut up and mind their own business.
IMHO, If I buy property, I ought to be able to USE it! Why buy anything if you’re not going to use it? “Use” is inherent in the definition of ownership and is common sense part and parcel of buying something.
If you want to dictate how I can use “my” property, then I don’t really own it- YOU DO! And if you’re not paying me for that, then you’re stealing from me and you are completely unjustified to even think you ought to be able to do that!
This family of sailors is not hurting anyone in the neighborhood in any way, shape or form! They pay their rent (part of which goes to the property taxes), they don’t look for trouble, they use shoreside facilities (water, sewer, trash) so there is no “trash” involved! They’re normal people except that they’ve decided to try and escape the rat race and live their dreams.
They ought to be able to do that! And nobody should be able to harass them about their choices!
Aaaand, not only is that family being unjustly attacked, but their landlord’s property rights are being violated too. HE is the one who made the deal to rent this family space. HE bought and paid for that property. HE ought to be able to USE it the way HE wants to.
It’s NOT up to the neighbors, it’s NOT up to the city! If he is not harming anyone else by his use of his property, then it is his absolute right to do so!
Neither the property owner nor the sailors are bothering anybody in any real way. They are not harming anyone! Someone decides they don’t like looking at ‘boat trash’, well that’s just tough tiddly-winks! Grow up! The world does not run itself to satisfy your every desire!
You want a pristine view, then either buy up all the property as far as you can see around you so that YOU have a legitimate right to say something about your view, or shut the hell up!
You live in a community, you need to understand that other people also have rights. As long as no one is harming another, everyone has the exact same equal rights under the law! YOU cannot run someone off because you don’t like their appearance!
We can’t (and should stop trying to) make laws based on such subjective ideals. Everyone has a different opinion. A different viewpoint. Laws need to be based on objective FACTS. NOT opinions, not feelings, not looks!
You shouldn’t be allowed to force me to paint my house YOUR favorite color! I should be allowed to paint it MY favorite color regardless of how much you hate it!
Hopefully, we can come to an agreement where we each paint our houses some color we can at least tolerate. The point is, there should not be a LAW about it!
This is supposed to be a “free country”. As Americans, we’re supposed to value “freedom” and “liberty”. “A man’s home is his castle”.
WTF happened? Do we really need laws to dictate what color you can paint your house? Because you might ‘offend’ someone? REALLY? Offending someone is NOT harming them!
This trend towards protecting everyone’s ‘feelings’ and trying to be inoffensive is getting past the point of ridiculousness. It has now become actively harmful.
This sailors story is just one example. I don’t know how you feel about it (but I hope you’ll comment). I hope you’ll think about what I’m trying to get across here. I’m curious to hear your objections (and yeah, I’m pretty sure there will be plenty- at least there would be in person so hoping being online won’t stop everyone).
I plan to help this family fight the city. I’m not sure what I can do, but I’m starting by sharing their story and looking for suggestions.
This weeks Maritime Monday is a good one. I do love art of all kinds, and especially maritime art (of course). This week there’s a very nice showcase of artists who liked to work on maritime subjects down through history. There’s also a mention of a new group, the “Sea Sisters”. I’ll definitely be checking them out. A neat article about the elevators on the Three Gorges Dam (I was excited to be able to cruise through there before the dam was finished), what an impressive project! Thanks to Monkey Fist and gCaptain for sharing all this great stuff!
The World’s Largest Elevator Can Lift 6.7 Million Pounds of Ship sploid.gizmodo …
Source: Maritime Monday for September 26th, 2016: Encore Performance – gCaptain
We finally made it to sea!
It only took us about a day extra to meander our way out through the Louisiana bayous. Instead of heading straight out down the Atchafalaya River like we planned, we had to backtrack to find a way out where we wouldn’t keep running aground.
We headed back up the Atchafalaya, passed through Bayou Chene, took the ICW to the Houma Navigation Canal and made it to the sea buoy at Cat Island Pass around 2200 our second day of the voyage.
We scrambled back aboard the Buzcador at the buoy and thanked our trusty tugs Ms Edmay and Mr Nicolas. We finally got underway under our own power for the first time. It was a beautiful night as we made our way through the offshore oilfields, heading almost due South. The stars were bright, the seas were calm and we were making decent time. Nights like that are why I’m always ready to go sailing again. 🙂
The night sky is so awesome far out to sea! There’s really nothing to compare.
I don’t know why I was expecting to see more traffic. Shipping has been dead– at least in the Gulf of Mexico- where so much shipping is related to oil. Since the price of oil dropped like a rock- from over $100 to mid $20’s- a year ago. Hundreds of Gulf boats have been stacked. It happened too quickly for any reaction but huge layoffs. I’ve heard there’ve been more than a half million people laid off in the oil fields already (and still nothing but bad news).
Even passing through the Yucatan Channel and further South, we saw very few ships. With the opening of the new Panama Canal, I expected to see lots of big container ships passing by. I thought we’d see tons of local freighters and fishing boats once we got past Cuba and into the Caribbean Sea. But I never saw much of anything till the approach to Cartagena. Even then, traffic was very light compared to normal.
We spent a full 10 days underway- more than twice as long as expected. We had some problems with the ship. Nothing really unexpected. The Buzcador had been cold stacked for years before we were brought aboard. Mechanics had been working frantically for weeks to get everything done so we could deliver her to her new owners.
Nothing was done that didn’t ‘need’ to be done. IMHO we were cutting it close, but after 9+ months without a real job, I was ready to take a few chances in order to earn a decent paycheck. Sure, I was happy as hell to get an AB job! A captains license doesn’t mean shit when you can’t find a boat!
Our engines worked fine for the first day or so. After that, we had to baby them a bit. The port shaft bearing was overheating and the starboard generator had problems with the oil pressure. We cut our RPMs down and made about 6 knots (close to half speed). The weather didn’t help much either.
It started kicking up before we reached Cuba and never let up. The mainmast shook so bad when we hit a heavy sea, we wondered when it was going to come crashing through the wheelhouse on us. Part of it had already fallen off when the other AB went up to change the masthead light before we left.
mainmast with #backscratcher hanging off
We sprung a couple of leaks around the ship and occasionally more pieces would fall off. Most of the outside lights around the house were falling off and full of water. Good thing we didn’t need to turn them on. 😉
The AC system for the house leaked. It got so bad that I would scoop up the water with a dust pan every time I went by. A couple of days like that and it got worse all the sudden. The whole room was awash. We were dumping 4-5 5 gallon buckets every couple of hours! Marvin the OS (ordinary seaman) finally got a chance to take a look at it and sent the water somewhere other than inside the AC room.
The pictures don’t look so bad, but we had over 8′ seas for most of the trip, over 10′ for a day or 2. We were bouncing around like a cork (which didn’t help our speed either). The weather was squally most of the way and pretty much overcast after the first couple of days. I never really got to see the stars again once the moon grew full.
It was getting to the point where we were starting to worry about our food, fuel, water supplies. This entire trip was only supposed to take about 6 days (I wound up spending 21 days aboard). We were also worried about catching our flights home.
‘Starvin’ Marvin’ and Noel the mate, had a fishing line out. Marvin cooked us up a couple of nice fish dinners. We had a dorado (dolphin/mahi-mahi) one night, a tuna the next, and a barracuda one day that no one would eat but him.
We actually did just fine. We didn’t run out of much of anything (just laundry soap and jelly -for the PBJ’s). We had plenty of beans and rice every day thanks to Marvin. I helped cook a couple of times and so did the Chief Engineer ‘Middle Aged Mutant Ninja Turtle’. (Captain Todd gave us all nicknames within a couple of days- I was ‘Jilligan’- like from Gilligans Island). 🙂
Sing-Sing, Chief Middle Aged Mutant Ninja Turtle & Starvin’ Marvin
We were able to increase our speed after a couple of days. The engine crew was sure busy that trip! Chief Engineer (Ninja Turtle), client rep (Colombia) and oiler (Sing-Sing) spent most of their time down in the super hot and noisy engine room, trying to keep us going.
Kudos to them for working so hard! It seems there was always something going on down there. I’d make my rounds at night, go down there to check up on them and they were always in the engine room, checking the bilges, checking the bearings, checking the temperatures and pressures. Always having to fix something.
I spent most of my time up at night, as lookout. I was night AB (able body seaman). I worked from 1800-0600 every night once we got underway. Sid the Sloth was the day AB, he relieved me in the mornings (below right).
It was actually a nice change. Capt Todd (above left) was on from 1000-2200 and Noel the mate was on from 2200-1000 (tho it seemed he never slept and was always on the bridge). Between rounds I would talk to them about previous ships, ports and people we’d worked with. Telling sea stories is another favorite activity of mine. 😉
Since this was just a delivery job, we weren’t really concerned with all the usual things we’d be doing to take care of the ship. For instance, as AB, normally I’d be spending all day chipping and painting, cleaning and greasing, etc. This time, I spent almost all of my time as lookout on the bridge. I tried to help in the galley when I got a chance, cooked a couple of times, and cleaned up the house when it got too bad.
Still, we were glad to reach Colombia. I went to bed before we got the pilot, when I woke up, we were all fast in Cartagena.
More later.
Hey! I made it!! The trip only took about 3 times longer than expected. I didn’t think I’d be out of touch for nearly so long. I’m so glad to see so many of you stuck around and didn’t jump ship on me.
We brought the ship into Cartagena (Columbia) this morning. It took us a couple of hours to get cleared by customs & immigration and to turn the ship over to it’s new owners.
Then it was off to find a hotel for the night (thanks to the personal generosity of the captain). Since we had no internet onboard, we had no way to look for anything beforehand. We had a recommendation for one from our Columbian client and we went there.
We wound up going to another place. It’s actually an apartment and close to the beach. We were all just happy to be off the ship. First order of duty was dinner and drinks! The captain treated us to a nice dinner at the place across the street. Everybody came back to the apt and crashed afterward. I went for a walk.
I’ll tell you more of the story over the next few days. It’s after midnight and I’ll be up at 0630 in the morning. We leave here at 0730 for the airport. My flight leaves around 1030 (I still don’t know the exact details).
I heard my flight(s) will arrive into New Orleans around 2300. Then I still have to get back to the dock where I left my truck. It’s about a 6 hour drive from there to get home. I’m not sure I’ll be able to make that drive after being up all day. I’m not so good at staying up past 24 hours anymore.
So I won’t actually be home for another day or two. Look for me to catch up after that. 🙂
I thought I had some really great news today. I got a call about a DPO job! Only for a month, but hey- I’ll do just about anything right now. A month as DPO would help a LOT!
I was actually in Houston for an interview for a different job when I got the call about the DPO. I think the interview went pretty well, but will have to wait and see what happens next week. I’m still not sure exactly what that job is all about.
When I got out of the interview (I had my phone turned off), I had another call about a job. This one was leaving immediately. Only for AB, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers! I still remember how to chip and paint. 🙂
The DPO job is not a sure thing, they don’t even know for sure when they’d need me, or IF they’d need me at all. I figure a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush (learned that lesson). I’m leaving early in the morning.
I’ll drive to Louisiana, get on the boat, deliver the boat to Columbia, fly back home. Should take less than 10 days if everything goes as planned (it never does).
I’m looking forward to the adventure. 🙂
I’ll be SO glad to be back at sea again. Only problem is- I’ll be incommunicado. They have no internet or phone. I swore I’d never take a job again where I couldn’t stay in touch, but it’s been so long since I’ve had ANY work. I’m just going to have to suck it up and keep hoping things get better offshore soon.
It’s hard to believe how people treat you when they know you’re desperate for work. Hard to believe anyone thinks it’s OK to send people to work totally cut off from the world for weeks at a time. Yes, we were all used to that, back in the day. Back when no one had internet or cel phones, it was bearable. We waited to get snail mail when we reached port. That was decades ago! Hard to believe employers still get away with treating their people like that. We’re not talking 3rd world employers either, these are Americans. 🙁
Anybody out there from Columbia? I would love to learn more about it. I was there for a short time during high school, not nearly enough time.
I’ve always enjoyed this Maritime Monday series from Monkey Fist and so glad they’re back again. Thanks to Monkey Fist and to gCaptain for promoting them. There’s so much interesting history, science, art, music, movies, culture and just all around maritime fun. 🙂
I hope you enjoy this weeks collection of maritime stuff in Maritime Monday…
Scientists call for better plastics design to protect marine life Improved materials would encourage recycling and prevent single-use containers from entering the oceans “[It comes from] 60 years of being a throwaway society,” Thompson said. Most of the plastic litter comes from single-use items, which have been inadequately disposed of and not recycled. “They have […]
Source: Maritime Monday for July 18th, 2016 – gCaptain
PS- My first job as third officer was on a sister ship to the Okeanos Explorer. Another T-AGOS ship, the USNS Invincible.
Check out this great post from Astrolabe Sailing for some great tips on how to be a great guest so you’ll be invited back. Yes, it is just as much fun and MUCH cheaper to go with friends!
So you’ve been invited to go and stay on someone’s boat? Awesome! The next best thing to having a boat of your own is having friends who have boats. It is much cheaper and just about as much fun. So to increase your chances of having a fantastic time – and being invited to come […]
My last post for the A to Z Challenge is on Zubenelgenubi.
Have you heard of it before?
I have, actually. I’m not just making this up for the challenge. 😉
Zubenelgenubi is one of the navigational stars. Stars we traditionally use to navigate by. It’s one of the stars in the constellation Virgo (next to Scorpius).
I remember when I really first started learning about all that stuff. When I was a cadet on the Ariadne, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. The skies were wide open and the stars were so bright. Our sail training master has us out practicing with the sextant, calculating our position. We were challenged to beat the actual ships crew. We got pretty good at it by the end of the crossing. 🙂
That was way before everybody had GPS. 😉
Today’s post for the A to Z challenge is: water.
It seems an appropriate subject. I’ve spent almost my entire life in, on and around the water.
Of course I understand (in a back of the mind sort of way) how vitally important water is in so many ways. All life on earth (and maybe space too) depends on water. Without it nothing living can survive for long. But I don’t think of it that way most of the time.
I usually think of it as a necessary ingredient for me to work (and sometimes play). As a merchant marine, I spend my life at sea. I started out working on local fishing boats when I was very young, moved up to the party boats, back to commercial fishing. I moved to Texas to go to school and earn my AB and QMED certificates from the USCG since it was so hard for women to find work offshore back then.
Since then, I’ve worked my way up over the years on crew boats, production boats, standby boats, supply boats, tankers, trawlers, ROV support vessels, dive boats, construction boats, pipe layers, semi submersibles and drillships. Whew!
Thats a lot of years at sea! I only count the 39 years since starting as a cadet in 1977. I still love it and can’t wait for a chance to get back out there. 🙂
How do you think of water? Do you work on/with it? Play on/with it?
Today’s post for the A to Z Challenge is on sailing.
I’ve been a sailor since I was a kid. How about you?
I grew up on the beach in Florida. At my dads house, the backyard ended at the bay. He kept his big old schooner at the dock right there. I had my own little Sea Snark sailing dingy.
I had so much fun with that boat growing up! I would go out by myself, just puttering around. I might take a friend or two. It was always a great way to spend a couple of hours.
I went to school on a couple of large, traditional sailing ships. I went to a high school that also included a sail training program along with cultural studies, languages and international travel.
I decided while I was there that I wanted to be a ship captain! I wanted to sail around the world and get paid for it! I’m still trying to do that.
Over the years, I’ve managed to find work at sea until being laid off recently when the price of oil hit the skids. It hasn’t been on sailboats very often.
I still go out on those for fun tho. 😉
I should have saved this post for today’s A to Z challenge, but instead I’ll tell you about my high school- the Oceanics. That was such a fantastic experience! I’m so thankful I had that opportunity at such a young age. It really did change my life.
The Oceanics was a really special school. It was run by Chick and Stephanie Gallagher out of their apartment in New York City. They somehow managed to round up small groups of students and a few teachers and send them off on round the world adventures aboard various chartered square-rigged sailing ships.
I see a few organizations today trying to do something similar. Not the same tho, not gone long enough, not the right kind of ships, not the same atmosphere. I’m sure they’re still great experiences for anyone who is able to attend. I don’t think there’s any better way to create a confident, competent, creative, cooperative human being than the way they did it at the Oceanics.
Spending months at sea working together to sail the ship from point A to point B. Learning every aspect of how to do the job properly, we earned a sense of a job well done and self esteem. It takes a lot of teamwork and trust in each other to sail a square-rigged ship. Running up the ratlines to furl the sails in a squall with the wind howling and the ship rolling needs to be an immediate response with all hands on deck. Ask the worlds navies why they still use sailing ships as training vessels, they understand.
The ship was just one aspect of the Oceanics. Captain Jespersen was our sail training master. We spent time with him every day learning the names and functions of all the rigging and sails aboard. We sailed the ship from Pireaus, Greece across the Atlantic to Martinique. We spent our time aboard in school, taking regular classes in math, science (oceanology), world history, cultural studies, local languages (Greek, Spanish, Russian), literature, etc. We also learned seamanship, navigation, and how to take care of the ship.
We all stood watch when we weren’t in class. The traditional 4 hours on, 8 hours off. Standing lookout and tending the helm. In between, we kept busy sanding, varnishing, washing the decks, painting, tending to the rigging, splicing line, even helping the cook peel potatoes.
My favorite time aboard was standing lookout on the bow. Watching the dolphins play in the bow waves on a bright sunny day. Seeing flying fish popping out of a wave, to spread their ‘wings’ to fly across the waves before dropping back into the water. Picking out the constellations in a starry, starry night sky. 🙂
I can’t express how truly awesome it was.
And then, when we got to port we could go ashore once we were off watch. Or we might all go ashore together for an adventure. We spent a few days on the Greek island of Agistri hunting octopus for dinner and playing soccer on the beach. I spent a few days with a family in La Gomera (Canary Islands) improving my Spanish and learning more about the locals.
We sailed the schooner Ariadne across the Atlantic to Martinique. On arrival we had a well deserved break on the beach. A few of us hitched our way up the island to hike up Mt Pele. I still remember the deliciously sweet pineapples we had to snack on.
Ariadne
We left the Ariadne in Martinique to fly into Caracas and our South American adventure began. We had been studying Spanish since we left Italy. Now was the time to put it to use. Our plan was to travel from Venezuela to Bolivia, we would figure out the details along the way. We got into some really cool, out of the way places. 🙂
Plenty of the places we wound up had never seen anyone like us before. My red hair stood out like a torch, the locals would surround me and ask to feel it. Young Joe with his bright blond hair was extremely popular with the ladies. People didn’t know what to make of us.
We might show up in a group of 6-10 students (ages 14-21) and 1-2 teachers trying to keep us focused on our studies but also allowing us to get out on our own. We had lots of independent projects. I did one on comparing fairy tales in different cultures and another one identifying plankton I caught in a net on the way over to the Caribbean while we were still on the ship.
We made our way from Caracas through Venezuela to Cucuta, Columbia. From Bogata we headed to Ecuador. Quito, Otavalos, and Guyaquil. We took a boat out to the Galapagos to check out the wildlife and swim with the sea lions and iguanas. We made our way to the jungle and the rivers feeding the Amazon. We traveled down the Rio Napo to visit the indigenous shamans and learn about the plants and animals, (I had to try the ayuhuasca).
In Peru we made our way from Lima to Cuzco (fantastic) and took the train to Macchu Picchu. That was back before it was overrun by tourists. We stayed at the Banos (hot springs) alongside the river and soaked in the hot springs at night after hiking back down the mountain. Another experience I’ll never forget. That place was magical, I could feel it.
We made our way across Lake Titicaca to La Paz, Bolivia to finish up the semester. We were all sad to leave. I didn’t want to go home.
I returned to meet the Ariadne in Martinique a month later. I had another semester to finish high school. Our graduation ceremony was on the pier side in Copenhagen. Another semester of overseas adventures at sea and ashore. It got in my blood and I’m sure I’ll never get over it.
I sure wish I had a better camera back then. Take a look here for some photos collected by Brian who was along for the trip with me and T. (who met me in Nicaragua). You can see me in a couple of the photos (in the yellow foul weather jacket by the cannon). 😉
I’ve been a mariner pretty much my entire life. I’ve worked as a professional mariner since I was a cadet during high school in 1977. I love being out on the water, there’s just nothing like it.
I used to love working out there too. 🙂
Things have changed. A lot.
I’ve been laid off since last September. This is the worst downturn in the maritime industry I’ve ever seen. I was lucky enough to keep working through the 80s and earlier in 2000’s. This time, I got hit with everybody else and hurting hard. 🙁
Mariners are simply people who work on the water (on boats). Fishermen, sailors, ferrymen, marine crew on cruise ships, tankers, container ships, drillships, etc. There are a lot of different sectors in the maritime world. Many more when you consider all the shoreside support.
I am a licensed merchant mariner. I have earned a Master Mariners license. I worked my way “up the hawsepipe” after spending a lot of years at sea, studying on my own and taking some USCG required courses before I was allowed to sit for their exam.
I started out commercial fishing. First with my father on his boat, later with some of the other guys around town who knew me. My first ‘real’ job was on the party fishing boats down the street.
I never planned to do this for a living. I was going to be a doctor, or more probably a veterinarian. When I got shipped off to school as a cadet on a couple of traditional sailing vessels in high school, my entire worldview changed and I decided I wanted to be a ship captain. Sail around the world and get paid for it- YEAH!
So I moved to Texas to go to school for my AB and oiler (QMED) endorsements. That way I could work and earn money to go towards my license. I started working in the offshore oilfield. In school, I was able to work on the party boats on the weekends, but in summer for our required projects, we were assigned various supply boats.
I worked for about 4 years on various crew boats, standby boats, production boats, supply boats, etc. I finally got finished with school and found a job I liked and that worked out very well. I started at Kilgore Marine on their vessel the K Marine 1 as an ordinary seaman (even tho I had my AB ticket). I worked my way up to AB, mate and finally master on their supply boats.
supply boats
When I earned my 1600 ton masters license at the USCG, they also gave me an unlimited second mates license. Fool that I was, I gave it back. I didn’t ask for it and I didn’t feel ready for it. More than once, I had been stuck in a rating higher than I was hired to do. One time I was hired on as ordinary seaman (not even AB), and wound up taking over as captain! Yes, I did have the same license as the ‘captain’ on there that the company hired.
Before, I had always felt that I could handle it, whatever it was. Now, I wasn’t so sure. I just didn’t want to get stuck again in a position by chance, and because I wasn’t ready for it I could cause some serious damage. I probably should have just accepted the license. I’ve been kicking myself ever since for that mistake. It’s cost me a decades of time and a LOT of money!
Because I gave them back the license, even tho they told me that I could just ask for it “at any time” and they would give it to me, I had to start back over again as a deckhand in order to get my third mates license (not the seconds I had already earned)!
So much for trusting the US government to follow their own rules!
So, I quit sailing as an officer for Kilgore and went to work for SeaRiver (ex-Exxon) as an AB on their tankers. It took me almost 10 years to earn my third mates license and when I asked for a promotion I was told I could never sail in any position of authority with them. Soooo….
I had to quit working there and found a job as third mate for Coastal Tankships. I worked for them for a couple of years til they sold out to El Paso and scrapped all of their ships. I got to take the Coastal New York to China (and spent a couple of weeks in Hong Kong afterwards).
Seeing the writing on the wall at Coastal, I had applied to Oceaneering and luckily their application process finished up just before my unemployment benefits ran out. I went to work as third mate/DPO. I was soon promoted to second mate/SDPO.
I really enjoyed my time there. I had a good ship, a good crew, and we were doing interesting work. We spent all of our time outside the US, so I wasn’t prepared for the culture shock when we brought the ship to the Gulf of Mexico in 2008.
I couldn’t take it. I HAD to get out of there! OMG what had happened?
For as long as ships have been sailing the seas, the captain has always been the one in charge. He is the ultimate authority on any ship. Now it seems he still has the legal responsibility, but he doesn’t have much actual authority. It seems the lawyers and bean counters ashore have taken that from the captain.
I’ve seen it over and over where the office people decide what, when and how something is going to happen on board. Captain’s not even allowed to chose their own crews anymore!
OK, yes, the captain can always stand up and exert his authority. For instance, tell the office that he’s going to delay sailing until his crew is properly rested. How many can continue to do that when their job is on the line? Not many. After all, it costs a lot of money for every hour that ship is not underway…
IMHO, being a mariner has certain meanings. Things like knowing your ship, understanding the weather, being able to work with your crewmates for months on end, able to survive in your own little world out there-on your own. Independence, freedom, a sense of pride and a job well done.
I think a lot of what it means to be a mariner is being slowly stripped away from us. I think we’ve already lost a lot of what it meant to go to sea, I don’t like that at all. 🙁
Today’s post for the A to Z Challenge is International Living (IL). It’s a magazine that I’ve been subscribing to for around 30 years (I love it- it’s so inspiring!).
I’ve always loved to travel. Even as a baby, living in a cabover camper on the back of dad’s pickup truck. When I got the chance to sail around the world on a couple of traditional sailing ships in high school I was hooked.
Schooner Ariadne
I wanted to sail around the world and get paid for it! Hopefully I could satisfy my wanderlust that way.
I have been able to do some traveling by sea, through my work as a professional mariner over the last 30+ years. But not nearly enough.
I want to move overseas. Permanently.
International Living has dozens of articles every month describing how others (mostly from US and Canada) have been able to make the move. It gives me all kinds of ideas. Sometimes I actually hurt over wanting it so bad.
IL publishes stories about people who’ve moved overseas and retired, bought property, started businesses (all kinds). People write about how much easier it is to do all of those things in places where the cost of living is so much lower and the bureaucracy is less burdensome (usually). They all mention how much less stress there is and how they’re able to really enjoy day to day life for a change.
I’ve just never felt that I could make it work. That I personally had the skills (and/or money) to be able to last for months, years, decades in foreign lands without being able to work (legally). Yes, I’m sure I could probably find some kind of under the table work (I’ve done it before), but I’m much more cautious now than I was at 16. I don’t want to worry about being deported and shipped back ‘home’. 🙁
I don’t feel comfortable with just dropping everything and leaving. With not having any money. Money is freedom in my mind. It allows for options. I’m not sure I want to travel as a backpacker, staying in hostels, etc. (in fact I’m pretty sure I don’t). I want to be sure I can at least be safe. I want to be able to move immediately if things start going wrong.
Then again, things here at home are not going very well, in fact it’s becoming unbearable. The more time I spend at home, not working, the more time I have to think. The more time to watch what’s going on in the news, etc. I don’t think things here are going to get any better. I feel like I need to get out while I still can.
I have been trying to follow some of the suggestions in IL for years. Things like find some source of independent income, multiple income sources, learn useful skills, find portable ‘jobs’, etc.
I’ve gone to some of their events over the years. Retire Overseas conferences, Fund Your Life conferences, travel writing and photography courses, etc. I’ve gathered up a lot of great information and met some really cool people, but still haven’t managed to do much to actually make a move. 🙁
I have been buying and renovating property for rental income since 2001. At this point, they mostly pay for themselves. There is only one that still needs supplemental income from my job. Since I have not been able to find work for the last 6+ months, I’ve had to put that one up for sale. I just can’t afford it if I’m not able to find work. Once that one is sold, I should be able to live on savings and rental income for at least a couple of years.
NOT the one I’m selling!
I’m thinking this would be the best time for me to move.
I have no job, I have nothing tying me down. I’ll have enough cash to live on for a couple of years when my house is sold. I even have a ‘useful skill’ now, since I just got certified to teach English as a foreign language (TEFL).
The only thing holding me back now is FEAR.
Now how to get rid of that (along with all the stuff I’ll need to pack up and get rid of so I can leave my house to the renters)?
I made it home yesterday, didn’t get much done. I was sooooo tired! I passed out about 3 PM and slept until 11. I woke up in the middle of the night and fiddled around with the huge stack of mail til I got a little sleepy again. I had to try and go back to bed since I had a long day planned.
First thing I had to do was to get my cell phone working again. I don’t know why, but every time I turn it off for a while it only lets me make emergency calls when I come home and turn it back on. It’s very frustrating.
I had to return the rental car I had to drive home yesterday, then headed back up to Houston for the UKOG (UK Oil & Gas) physical. I tried to get that done while I was in Mexico, but apparently there is not a single doctor in all of Mexico qualified to do that physical. WTF??!!
Why not?
What the hell is so hard about a general physical that no doctor in Mexico is qualified to perform it? I’ve been to a few doctors down there and I’ve been pretty impressed. I don’t think they’re any worse than doctors I’ve been to in the US (or Thailand, or Korea, or Singapore).
It’s really aggravating that I have to have a US Coast Guard physical every year. It is STCW approved and according to international law (treaty) is SUPPOSED to be accepted for every mariner everywhere worldwide. Now, I have to take them for every temp job I go to? Why? Why does the UK not accept the US Coast Guard physical?
So, I spent all afternoon up there, mostly sitting around waiting. It was worse than usual since they told me I needed to get a piss test, so I was holding it. When I got there, I asked if they could go ahead and take my urine sample if the wait was going to be a while. Nope. Grrrrrr!
So I sat there for about 3 hours before they called my name, trying not to pee myself. It was no fun!
I did pass the physical, it was actually less intensive than the USCG physical.
Seems to me the officials who force all these BS laws (treaties) on us sailors in order to have us all be considered equal, had better get on the companies to stop forcing us to keep wasting OUR time and money on these extra BS ‘requirements’. Why don’t these officials who are SUPPOSED to be there to protect the seaman ever protect the seamen instead of their employers?
If we’re all equal enough so that a company can hire an Indian or Ukrainian sailor for pennies on the dollar, only to benefit the company (so they can save on crew costs)- then we SHOULD all be equal enough when it actually helps US instead of the companies!
Sunday the whole group of us from our school went out sailing Bay of Banderas on a friends boat (thanks again Memo!). We had a great time.
We left around 1030 and came back in around 1930. We cruised from the Puerto Vallarta marina down to Los Arcos. We set out a couple of fishing rods and trolled along as we made our way. We passed schools of fish and a few dolphins along the way. It was so nice.
We stopped for a swim at Los Arcos, a big bunch of rocks just offshore. The water was a clear blue-green. There were hundreds of fish swimming around. There were a few other boats there before us and people were busy feeding the fish, swimming, kayaking, and just generally having a good time.
It was so nice to dive in and luxuriate in the cool, clean, clear water. I swam around and took pictures of the fish. I wasn’t brave enough to try swimming through the arches and caves, but some people did.
We headed back out to sail some more after our nice swim, we were on our way to Las Animas Beach. Raul kept watch on the boat as the water taxi ferried us in to the beach. We had lunch over a couple of big margaritas at Los Conos.
The beach was actually pretty busy. Los Conos is right up on the beach. The view of the boats swaying on the bay and the kids making sandcastles on the beach was so relaxing. The few peddlers who wandered by were mostly entertaining, especially this one guy with his pet iguana. He was hilarious. 🙂
The restaurant was busy and the staff was a little overwhelmed, but they brought us our drinks quickly and the food was good. I had cheese quesadillas. I’m not big on seafood and that’s more their specialty. Everyone’s fish and shrimp looked very well prepared and no one complained about the food. 🙂
The water ferry took us back out to the boat and we clambered back aboard the Bella Maria. As we were getting underway, friends pulled up to say hi. They were in a little speedboat (the Calypso) and just out having a good time on the water.
We challenged each other with beer and raicilla, whistling and dancing to loud Mexican music. We rode together for about an hour before they got tired of poking around so slow with us and took off for home, leaving us in their wake. Who cared? We still had plenty of beer. They did make off with the last of the raicilla tho. 🙁
We sailed back towards the marina as the sun set to port and the full moon rose to starboard. It was a magical time. Everyone was in good spirits and happy to have spent the day together.
Class will finish up this week, so things will be busy around here for a couple of days. Actually, I’ve been fairly busy all along. I haven’t been posting much (and probably won’t be) because the internet has been really bad the last couple of days and I can’t stand sitting here trying to work (and not able to get anything done) while I should be out enjoying Puerto Vallarta.
Saturday I spent the morning taking it easy. I had breakfast at the little cantina downstairs, picked up my laundry, picked up a few things at the store. I took the bus down to the marina after it started cooling off a little bit.
I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t bigger. Other than that, it was about what I expected. Lots of expensive shops and plenty of tourists. A few big yachts but most looked like they were actually used and not just show boats like a lot of them you see in Miami or Houston.
As expected, the gates to the docks were locked. I couldn’t get down to the boats to talk to any crew members. I figured there wasn’t much hope, but still worth a try. I wouldn’t mind working on a private vessel again. It might even be fun for a change.
I wandered around for a while, hoping to find a good sailors bar where I could hang out for a while and get the scoop over a few drinks. Sorry to say, I didn’t find any place that looked likely for real sailors to hang out.
I rode the elevator up to the top of the lighthouse (El Faro). I thought I might have a snack and watch the sunset. It was a gorgeous view. They only had chicken wings and I just wasn’t in the mood for those, so I took a few pictures and headed back down to wander some more.
I met a nice guy from Tennessee. He was a former USCG mariner so we had a pretty good conversation. It was nice talking to someone who ‘gets it’. I really miss being on the water. Most people just don’t understand. It gets in your blood.
I had a nice steak dinner at a place called the Rincon de Buenos Aires (Argentinian Steak House). They had a special offering of green salad, baked potato and skirt steak for 195 pesos. I paid about $15 for dinner and a drink.
The steak was great, cooked perfectly and plenty big. I could hardly finish it. The baked potato was big, but they didn’t put anything on it but butter. I asked for sour cream and they brought some, but it was not the same thing we get at home. The salad was big, but they only had Italian dressing and it wasn’t really very flavorful. They brought out a bread basket with chimichurra sauce, but I didn’t want to fill up on bread.
I did really enjoy my steak, but I wasn’t real impressed with the restaurant other than that. First of all, it was very hot. I was dripping. The hostess tried to help me by pulling my table (which was up against the wall in a dark corner) out so that it was under a ceiling fan. I appreciated the effort, but it didn’t help much.
The waiters were all polite and helpful, but it was very busy so they were slow to come by. A man at the next table flagged them down for me once after I had been waving at them for about 10 minutes.
It was definitely a very popular place. I would go back for the food, but only if I made sure beforehand it was a slow time.
Sunday morning we got to go out sailing with Erica and her friend Memo. He has a beautiful sailboat and kindly offered to take our whole class out sailing for the day. I’ll have more on that later.
Today was Monday. Back to school. I got my last 2 teaching assignments this morning, and so spent some time working on my lesson plans this afternoon. I’ve got early classes tomorrow and Wednesday, and we have another essay due Wednesday too, so I’ll be busy for the next couple of days with school work.
It’s already 2300. I need to get off here and get some sleep. I need to get up EARLY tomorrow! 🙁
I’ve joined in Linda’s blog challenge of Just Jot It January. I’ve been posting every day so far but today is the first time I’m using one of the prompts. Today’s prompt is: frozen.
I can’t help thinking about yesterdays Icicle Race out on Galveston Bay. One of the guys who was out on the boat with us was just about literally frozen the whole time! Unlike myself, he’s a skinny little guy and has no natural insulation. 😉
He’s usually the most enthusiastic sailor of all of us. He’s constantly checking the sails and tweaking the trim for every last bit of speed he can get out of the boat. But yesterday he stayed holed up down below through most of the race. Even the standard sailors cure (a shot of rum) didn’t do much to help. 😉
We joked about the ‘wind chill factor’ the rest of the afternoon, how it was so much colder on deck with the wind (since there really was not much wind). We finally gave up on the race when the wind died down to only 2-3 kts, and motored the rest of the way in to the dock. We got there in good time for the crew party at the clubhouse. The hot chili and a few more shots of rum finally did the trick. 🙂
Today was the first in the series of Icicle races here on Galveston Bay. I pried my eyes open early and ran up to Kemah to join Capt Vic and his crew. We got underway in time to get the crew warmed up and make a couple of practice runs at the starting line.
It was cold and damp, cloudy and drizzling rain, but we were in good spirits. We had some decent wind (N 10-15 kts), to start the race. We had a great start. Crossed the line right on time and were making about 7 kts all the way to the first mark.
From that point on, it was all down hill. The wind started shifting and dropping off. We had to tack a couple of times to make the next mark. That cost us a lot of time.
By the time we rounded the 2nd mark, the wind had died down to under 5 kts. Not enough to do much for a heavier boat like ours. We tried to sail wing and wing downwind, but it really wasn’t working well. We didn’t have a spinniker and weren’t classed for it anyway so couldn’t have used it if we did have one on board.
We tried for about a half hour, pretty much every other boat had already passed us so we decided to just throw in the towel and head for the dock. At least we would get there before the rum was gone (Cruzan Rum is one of the major sponsors of the Icicle Races). 🙂
There are 4 more races to go. I hope the weather is better for the next one. It’s not a lot of fun to sail when there’s no wind. Even so, I was happy to be out on the water today. 🙂
The pictures are from last years races, I haven’t had time to download the new ones yet.
PS- I’ve joined in the Just Jot it January challenge, you can see what it’s all about here.
I talked to a couple of old friends today. Both of them have made the move and encouraged me to ‘just do it’ too.
One friend I used to work with on the ships has made the move to Thailand. He’s still working for the same company we were at together, but he has been working in Korea for a few years now. He spends his time off in Thailand. He’s married a Thai lady and is VERY happy there.
My other friend went to high school with me on the sailing ships. He’s got the same adventurous spirit that I have, but he’s actually DONE something with his. Soon after high school, he spent 10 years living in Venezuela. He moved back to the states to raise his family, but now they’re grown and he’s looking for a change. He’s just finished his TEFL course and is now teaching in Mexico.
I’ve been trying to find something to do with myself for years now. Decades really. I’m so tied up in trying to find a way to get out of here, but I want to do it safely. I don’t really love the idea of trying to sell everything I own, cut all ties, and give up everything I’ve ever worked for in order to support myself overseas. Is that possible? I know I’ve been trying for a LONG time and still haven’t really come any closer to finding an answer.
I’ve been lucky to have had a good job (until a couple of months ago). One that paid me enough to pay the bills and put a little aside every month. In trying to find some way to support myself, so I could leave the US, I’ve started a vending machine business (total failure), bought rental properties (which I am going to have to sell since I can’t afford them if I’m not working), working on stock photography, blogging, writing.
None of those projects has yet brought me anywhere near the amount of income I need to start the process to emigrate somewhere else. Only the rental property will bring in enough money so that I can apply for residency (not citizenship) in a few places.
I’ve been hoping to get at least a couple of weeks of regular work over the holidays. That would help a LOT. At this point, that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. So, now what?
I’m thinking my best alternative would be to take the TEFL course myself. At least that would give me the option to live someplace cheaper and get away from some major expenses here. Also, find a much less stressful lifestyle somewhere.
I’m still worried about so many things, pretty much all of them to do with finances. How will I pay my bills? How will I be able to keep up my ‘training’? How will I be able to keep my LICENSE? I need that license in order to work offshore and I can’t imagine giving it up after working so hard for 34+ years to earn it.
I need to renew it by December 2016. If I want to keep it after that, I HAVE TO find work at sea! So, I have about 9 months to find something else to do before I need to be back here to start the renewal process.
So, does anyone have any helpful ideas for me? Something other than “just DO it!” Some ‘it” to do?? I’m open to suggestions. Send ’em over here. 😉
Here’s a classic. The Beach Boys singing “Sail On Sailor”. Read the lyrics for a not so nice version of time spent at sea. Good or bad out there, I still love it! 🙂
“Sail On Sailor”
I wrest the waters, fight Neptune’s waters
Sail through the sorrows of life’s marauders
Unrepenting, often empty
Sail on, sail on sailor
Caught like a sewer rat alone but I sail
Bought like a crust of bread, but oh do I wail
Seldom stumble, never crumble
Try to tumble, life’s a rumble
Feel the stinging I’ve been given
Never ending, unrelenting
Heartbreak searing, always fearing
Never caring, persevering
Sail on, sail on, sailor
I work the seaways, the gale-swept seaways
Past shipwrecked daughters of wicked waters
Uninspired, drenched and tired
Wail on, wail on, sailor
Always needing, even bleeding
Never feeding all my feelings
Damn the thunder, must I blunder
There’s no wonder all I’m under
Stop the crying and the lying
And the sighing and my dying
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
It’s been a quiet couple of days around here. I’ve been reveling in the fact that I finally found some time to just CHILL!
I wrote yesterday that I didn’t do anything except take my daily walk and cook dinner. Today I got a little bit more done. I did the laundry. 😉
I’ve been reading a good book and thought some of you might like it too. It’s called The Gathering Wind, by Gregory A. Freeman.
It’s all about the tall ship Bounty, (the replica of the one they had the mutiny on). 😉
The Gathering Storm tells the story of the ship, her captain (Robin Walbridge) and crew and how they wound up sinking in the middle of ‘Superstorm Sandy’.
It’s a pretty wild story, especially the heroic attempts by the crew to save their ship and the amazing efforts of the US Coast Guard to save the crew.
It’s a great read, a real page turner. Even tho I knew how it would turn out, it still kept me interested til the end. As a sailor, I kept wondering WHY would they do that? Head out to sea with a hurricane approaching?
The book doesn’t really give a clear answer to that question. It did have a section on the investigation of the sinking, but I would have liked more. I have my own opinion and it mostly has to do with money.
So many of these disasters at sea probably never would have happened if there was a REAL concern for safety, but ‘time is money’ and it gets harder and harder for a seafarer to find employment where the idea of safety is more than just a façade for the insurance companies!
Just a couple of weeks ago, the El Faro went down with all hands, another 33 lives. Lost in another hurricane.
Will the investigation for the El Faro come to the same conclusion? That it was all the captains fault? That only his ‘reckless decision’ was to blame?
Do you really think the captain of the El Faro (or the Bounty) would have taken the risks he did if there were no pressure from the office to ‘make the schedule’? I sure as hell don’t!
With all the new rules and regulations coming out of the IMO and various governmental bodies, I keep wondering when will they get down to the root cause of all this? The people in the OFFICE who run these ships! THEY are the ones who really make the decisions these days, the poor old captain is nothing but a scapegoat for when things go wrong!
There is only so much a captain and crew can do out there! Without the help and support of our employers, we can only do so much! Sailing around a hurricane (or through pirates, or any other extraordinarily dangerous place), is NOT something we should be doing just to save the company a few bucks!
I’m still waiting to see the day when the IMO does something that actually helps the MARINER! Putting at least SOME of the responsibility on those who really make the decisions, and off of the captain who is now only a figurehead would go a long way in fixing a lot of issues out here!
For further discussions of these incidents among the mariners who hang out on Gcaptain, (professional and otherwise), check out these links:
http://www.gcaptain.com/forum/professional-mariner-forum/10134-hms-bounty-hurricane-sandy.html
http://www.gcaptain.com/forum/maritime-news/17656-sea-star-el-faro.html
I just mentioned I’ve been thinking how much I’d just LOVE to be able to just chuck it all and go sail around the world. Seriously.
Yeah, I’ve spent about the last 40 years TRYING to do just exactly that. I’ve spent almost my entire life at sea, hoping to see the world, have some adventures, and earn a living at the same time.
I keep TRYING to get the hell out of the Gulf of Mexico, go somewhere interesting and get a job where I really love what I’m doing, like I used to love what I do now. It seems no matter what I do, even if I manage to find a job overseas somewhere, I keep getting stuck right back in the Gulf of Mexico again. Right back to the same old, same old. Right back to the place where they suck all the excitement and enjoyment right out of being a mariner.
I’m up here at the DP Conference in Houston this week. I’m here hoping to learn something useful, meet some interesting people, get a feel for what’s happening in the DP world, and maybe even get a clue about who might be hiring DPOs.
Well, I have met some interesting people, and I have learned a little bit, but it sure doesn’t look good for anybody hiring any DPOs anytime soon. The more I think about it, the more I think it might just be time to say the hell with it.
I still have no idea how I could possibly make it work, but the more I think about it, the more I want to just GO! The only thing holding me back is the fear of wondering how in the heck will I be able to support myself?
I’ve been trying for years now to figure out SOME way to pay my bills without having to be out on a ship somewhere. I’ve tried vending machines. I’ve bought rental property. I’ve been working on writing, photography, etc.
That’s even one of the main reasons I started this blog, hoping to find a way to get around the editors, to get my photography out to the world (and hoping someone would like it enough to buy it). I still haven’t figured out what the hell happened to the blog when I moved it from wordpress, but it seems I’ve lost most of my readers since then. 🙁
I have actually sold 2 photos online so far. I’ve earned 50 cents for the 2 of them. 🙁 I have had a couple of my articles published, and once I even got paid. I wonder if I stayed home and was able to spend more time on it, if I could somehow earn enough to survive?
I wonder if I just did take off to travel for a while how long I would be able to last? It must be possible somehow, I just don’t know how I can do it!
I need to spend some time seriously figuring out my finances and looking at ALL options. I need to get over being so spoiled and afraid!!!
I’ve been in Houston the last couple of days at the DP Conference. I don’t know why, but maybe it’s because I might not have a boat to go back to for a while, but I was really thinking about sailing tonight. Jimmy Buffett was always one of my favorite songwriters and this is a good song (Crosby, Stills & Nash did it first).
I really wish I could just chuck it all and go sail around the world!!!!!
I know everybody’s out there enjoying the holiday weekend. 🙂
I went sailing again. Not racing this time, just a nice, relaxing cruise. I went out with the Sail La Vie meetup group. We went sailing for the day and then came back to join a BBQ party in progress on the dock.
Things didn’t start out too well. It was pouring buckets on the drive up to Kemah! I had to slow down to 30 mph a couple of times, just to see where I was going. It was still raining when I got to the dock, but just a light rain so it wasn’t too bad to unload the truck and get down the dock to the boat.
We had a full crew for the Paradise,13 including Capt Kent. Everyone was in good spirits, even if they were all wet. The mimosas helped quite a bit. 🙂 No fair weather sailors in this crew! We checked the weather online and saw there was a pretty big squall line right over us. We decided to wait out the rain in the cabin before leaving the dock.
hoping for the rain to stop and the wind to start
We got underway and headed out into the bay. Capt Kent brought along his dingy. The plan was to sail for a while and then take the dingy in for lunch. Once we got out of the channel, we put up the mainsail and found out there was no wind. 🙁
The weather was still against us, so we decided to go ahead and have some lunch and hope the weather would improve. We put the sail back down and motored over to ‘Noahs Ark’ in Bacliff. It was a little hard to find it, but with the help from the internet (google maps) and a good lookout, we found it pretty quick. Kent had to shuttle back and forth a couple of times to get everybody over there. He had a little trouble with the outboard, but eventually managed to get us all over (and back). 🙂
Gary and Bill dropping the anchor
It didn’t help that they insisted they wouldn’t allow us inside without ID! (How ridiculous is that?! I never heard of anything like that before. Yeah, I know you can’t serve alcohol to someone without ID, but FOOD??) They lost some business over that cause a couple of our crew didn’t have ID. I never thought the USA would devolve into a state where ‘let me see your papers please’ was the accepted reality. 🙁
So, a couple of people had to stay on the boat, but they took it pretty well and there were plenty of drinks and snacks so they didn’t starve. We had a pretty good lunch ashore. The music was just right for our bunch, lots of Jimmy Buffett and 70s-80s stuff. We liked the décor, open air palapa bar, lots of funny signs and pictures around the ceiling, nice underwater painting. The food was good, I had a patty melt with onions (but it didn’t come with mushrooms).
Nice choice for lunch (except for the thing with the IDs)!
By the time we were ready to go, the sun was shining and the wind picked up enough that we could set both sails. We had a great sail back to Kemah. We had good music, good snacks, good conversation, good wind, plenty to drink and not much traffic. Not more to ask for on a day on the water.
Alright! Now we have both sun and wind!!
Capt Jill teaching Kim how to steer a course
We dropped off the dingy and motored into the dock around 6:30 and then headed over to the Sail la Vie BBQ party. Our chefs for the event Vic and Paul had some special recipe chicken cooking and there was plenty of fruit, macaroni salad, chips and dips, cookies and drinks to go around.
Vic and Paul explain their selection of BBQ sauces
It was nice to meet some of the other members and catch up with some I hadn’t seen in a while. I haven’t been going to the meetings for a while, mostly because it takes me so long to get up to Houston and home. I don’t go up there anymore unless I have more than one thing to do.
I wound up getting home about 11:00. Too tired to do much but hit the sack. It was so nice to sleep in today. I plan to do it tomorrow too! 🙂
That’s how I’m spending my holiday weekend (nope, nothing about remembering what it’s really all supposed to be about- LABOR day and all that). Just chillin out and enjoying the time off.
How are you spending your weekend? Let’s hear it. 🙂
I’ve been busy. You would think things would slow down around here since I’ve been laid off, but nooooo… I’m just as busy as ever!
Saturday I went out with Capt Vic on the Bat Boat (she’s a C&C 38). We were a little late getting underway due to some trouble with the battery (it was dead). We made it to the starting line right on time (actually about 2 minutes early).
It was a gorgeous day, there were lots of boats out sailing. Capt Vic said about 60 were in the race with us. A few different classes of boats. I’m not really sure what they all were, I’ve really only started learning about racing sailboats.
These races are set up through the Galveston Bay Cruising Association. They have all sorts of races, regattas, cruises, etc. I don’t know much at all about how they run these races, just that we were one of the bigger, heavier, slower boats. Not using spinnikers.
The sun was out and the wind was about 10-15 kts for the first part of the race. It slowed waaaay down after we made the turn to head back towards Kemah. We took down the jib and put up the ‘gennaker‘ (the bat sail) and it actually helped a lot in the lighter winds.
We did lose some time, mostly because we were not used to setting that sail and it took us a while to get it working properly. Once we got it set, we had a nice, leisurely sail back towards Kemah. We were doing pretty good in the race til then, but we fell behind while we were messing around with the gennaker. 🙁
We made it to the finish line right before sunset and got to watch the sun go down and the full moon rise over the bay. The sunset was nice, but the moon was absolutely stunning! I wish I could have taken some better pictures, but I was on the wheel at the time and couldn’t concentrate on the camera, I had to pay attention to the traffic in the channel.
It was getting dark by the time we got to the dock. We fought off the mosquitos while folding up the sails up the dock. Once we got everything secured, we could try out the ‘dark and stormies’ we had been hearing about all day. D. came up with some mosquito spray and we had our 1st rewarding rum drinks out in the parking lot.
Not too bad. 😉
We slowly made our way over to the clubhouse for the afterparty. The Rum Races are sponsored by Cruzan Rum and so we had to head up there for the end of the race announcements. We had to see who won (even if we knew we didn’t), we could still enjoy the rewards. Free rum and snacks to go with it. 🙂
It was fun to hang out for a while and talk over the race with the other sailors. Everyone was friendly and in good spirits. The free rum helps with that. 😉
Some of us decided to go out for a more hearty snack from there and we met up at Sam’s Boat for nachos, sliders, chicken wings and more good stuff. 🙂
I made it home about 3 am. Days like that really make me appreciate the life of a sailor. 🙂
Hey, I got back home last weekend and ready to go out sailing again. Luckily, Capt Vic has had a standing invitation to join him for the Rum Races in Galveston Bay. I’m going out tomorrow! 🙂
Hopefully, the weather will be co-operative and we will have a little wind. I always love to go sailing. Not too much beats a day out on the water IMHO. Here’s a picture from the last time I went out racing with Capt Vic.
It wasn’t all work and no play. We had plenty of fun during the blogging workshop. One day we went for a cruise on a nice big catamaran called the Marlin del Rey out of Tamarindo.
waiting for the launch
We spent the day sailing, fishing, swimming and snorkeling. It was a ton of fun. There were other people on the cruise too, not just our group. There was a couple on their honeymoon from Texas. There was a group of cute young Italian guys. A couple of pretty young German girls (who got along great with the Italians). A couple of local ladies and a few more.
We took a small launch out to the catamaran and got underway (after the safety briefing). We motored out of the anchorage and then set sail. It was a great day for sailing, good breeze but not rough. We saw whales, and dolphins came up to the boat for a while. We had a couple of trolling lines out, just in case we went through some fish.
checking out the dolphins
We arrived at the snorkeling spot and the crew passed out life jackets and noodles for anyone who wanted them. We all dived in. The water was crystal clear and just a little bit cool when you jumped in, but warm enough once you got wet. 🙂
enjoying a nice swim
We spent a couple of hours enjoying the ocean. I saw a spotted eagle ray and followed it around for a while. I tried out my new waterproof camera and even got a movie of it. I took a few pictures of the fish there, but was a little disappointed. There really was no coral. Or at least I didn’t find it. There were some rocks, and algae growing on them which attracted a few fish, but nothing like a real coral reef.
The swim was nice anyway and when we got back onboard they had a nice lunch spread out for us. Chicken, rice, beans, potato chips, doritos, Cheetos, and even chocolate chip cookies. Of course, the drinks were free and flowing all day. Excellent pina coladas!
We set sail again just as the sun was setting and watched as it turned the sky brilliant colors of orange and red. We even managed to catch a fish on the way in!
When we got back to the anchorage, it was a subdued group that loaded back into the launch for the ride back to the beach. Yeah, I would definitely do it again! 🙂
